IIFT | GP ka Funda, MBA blog for CAT preparationhttps://www.gpkafunda.com
India's one and only aptitude guruThu, 09 Aug 2018 11:32:26 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Top B-Schools where you can still apply through CAThttps://www.gpkafunda.com/top-b-schools-apply-cat-xat-cmat/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/top-b-schools-apply-cat-xat-cmat/#commentsWed, 31 Jan 2018 05:29:24 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=6444You are advised to not only apply to B-Schools where the cut-offs are around or a little more than what you have scored, but also to some where the cut-offs are less than your score.

The cut-offs listed below are for General Category. In colleges where NC-OBC, SC and ST reservations exist, please reduce the cut-offs by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively to get the category cut-offs. Continue to read about Top B-Schools where you can still apply through CAT/XAT/CMAT

B-School

Last Date

Expected Cut-off
(Percentile)

Our Rating

Avg Sal 2017
(lacs per year)

JBIMS Mumbai (MMS/MSc Fin)

Through Mah-CET. Wait for the notification.

A++/A

18.8/16.3

SRCC (PGDBO)

31st January

Own Test (4th Mar)

B

8

IIT Bombay (Only engineers)

31st January

97.5

A+

17.6

NITIE Mumbai (PGDIM/PGDISEM)

22nd January

97/94
(92/90 in each section)

A+

16.9/15.9

IISc Bangalore (Only engineers)

March – mid

95

A

16.1

IIT Delhi (Non-engineers can also apply)

29th January

95(Profile very important)

A

16.2

IIT Kharagpur (MBA – only engineers)

30th January

93(Difficult for freshers to get in)

A

15.6

IIT Madras (Non-engineers can also apply)

29th January

94(Profile also considered)

A-

11.9

IIT Roorkee (Only engineers)

29th January

94(Profile also considered)

A-

9.2

MFC & MBE (DU)

Open

94(Profile also considered)

A-

11.7/9

IIT Kanpur (Only engineers)

29th January

92(Profile also considered)

A-

10.4

IIM Ranchi (PGDHRM)

February – mid

90 (70 in each)

A-

13.8

IMI Delhi (PGDM/HR/B&FS)

21st January

90/85/83

A-/B+/B+

12.5/10.8/12.1

(60 in each section, except PGDM QA 75%ile)

*IMT Ghaziabad / Nagpur / Hyderabad

21st January

90/70/65

A-/B-/C+

11/7.5/7

*IRMA Anand

20th January

80

A-

10.2

*MICA Ahmedabad

5th February

80

A-

12.6

*TAPMI Manipal (PGDM/Banking&Fin Ser)

May extend

85/90

B+/B

10

(lower for candidates with work-ex)

*K J Somaiya Mum (PGDM/IB/Comm/Fin Ser)

31st January

87

B+/B/B-/B-

9.2

*Fore Delhi (PGDM/IBM)

18th January

85/78

B+/B

9.4

LBSIM Delhi (PGDM/Fin)

Open

84/82

B+/B

8.5

IIT Kharagpur (MHRM – only engineers)

16th February

83

B+

9.5

BIM Tiruchirapalli

31st January

80

B+

10

*LIBA Chennai

31st January

80

B+

9

(18 %ile in VARC, 49 in DILR & 42 in QA)

UBS Chandigarh (Gen/IB/HR)

Will re-open

90/85/80

B

7.6

*Great Lakes Chennai/Gurgaon
(2 year PGDM)

25th February

85/80(Profile-based)

B/B-

9.3/9.1

FMS (BHU)

22nd January

80

B

7

NIBM Pune

20th March

80

B

10

Nirma Ahmedabad

29th January

80 (40 in each)

B

8.2

*Welingkar Mumbai / Bengaluru

26th January

80/75

B

8/7

*IFMR Chennai

5th February

75 (Profile-based)

B

8.5

BITS Pilani (Only engineers)

15th February

70 (Profile-based)

B

7.5

MDI Murshidabad

31st January

70

B

8

*IIFM Bhopal

10th February

84 (78 in each)

B-

6.4

NIT Trichy (Non-engineers can also apply)

Details Awaited

75

B-

6.5

*BIMTECH Noida

31st January

70

B-

7.5

Delhi School of Mgmt (DTU) ~(Non-engineers can also apply)

Details Awaited

70

B-

6.4

IISWBM Kolkata (MBA/MHRM)

Open

70/60

B-/C

7/5

*SDM IMD Mysore

28th February

70

B-

6.5

SIES Mumbai

Details Awaited

70

B-

6.7

*XIME Bengaluru

25th February

70

B-

6.7

*IMI Kolkata/Bhubaneswar

28th January

65

B-

6.2/7.5

NIA SOM Pune

15th March

65

B-

7

*XISS Ranchi (HRM/Others)

20th February

65/50

B-/C

8/5 or less

Christ University Bengaluru (MBA)

20th January

70

C+

*Amrita Coimbatore

31st January

65

C+

*BIMM Pune

28th January

65

C+

*Chetana Mumbai

Details Awaited

65

C+

N L Dalmia Mumbai (PGDBM)

Details Awaited

65

C+

AIM Kolkata

31st January

60

C+

*ISB&M Pune/Kolkata/Bangalore

Open

60

C+/C/C

*ITM Mumbai

31st March

60

C+

*TAPMI SOB Jaipur

Open

60

C+

Application forms for B-Schools like AIMS, Apeejay, BML Munjal, Globsyn, EMPI, Jaipuria, IBA, IFIM, IILM, Jindal, Kirloskar, NDIM, PIBM, Presidency Bengaluru, TSM Madurai, United World, Woxsen etc are also available. These B-Schools would shortlist using CAT/XAT/CMAT/MAT scores and could be available at 60 percentile or lower.

* Institutes with an asterisk before their names also accept the XAT scores.

XAT

XAT 2018 Score vs Expected Percentile

(This is based on the test conducted on 7th January 2018 and is subject to revision if the XAT authorities use normalization or any other method on account of the retest.)

Score

Percentile

33

95

30

90

27.5

85

25.5

80

24

75

All the colleges mentioned in the earlier list, which accept XAT scores will have similar cutoffs for XAT as well. There are two exceptions though –

K J Somaiya – 75%ile in XAT

LIBA – 70%ile in XAT (68 %ile in VARC, 37 in DM & 49 in QA)

The last dates to apply will also be the same except for IMT (31st January) and TAPMI (probably till after declaration of XAT results). Some more colleges may extend their last dates, however, you are advised not to wait any longer and apply asap if you are interested in any college(s).

]]>https://www.gpkafunda.com/top-b-schools-apply-cat-xat-cmat/feed/6Jayein toh jayein kahaan 2018: Top MBA Collegeshttps://www.gpkafunda.com/jayein-toh-jayein-kahaan-2018-institute/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/jayein-toh-jayein-kahaan-2018-institute/#commentsFri, 19 Jan 2018 08:20:45 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=6427A student seeking my advice on which MBA institute should he join said “Sir, if I were your nephew then after considering all factors which out of these three institutes would you recommend?”

There is always a dilemma when it comes to choosing an MBA institute because a wrong choice of institute could very easily lead to a poor career growth or waste of money or both. Unfortunately, most rankings do not consider the student’s point of view and have a low weight for one of the most important criteria – the placements.

To my mind the most important measure of the worth of a B School is its placement record and hence my preference for an institute is determined primarily by the placements. Placements refer to not only the average/median salary but also include the difficult to quantify factors like the reputation, quality of opportunities and the kind of companies that visit the institute. Secondly, with most of the good institutes charging a fee of over Rs 12 lakh for the MBA program, the cost of doing an MBA is a factor that cannot be ignored.

Between similarly placed MBA institutes the location becomes the tie breaker. I also believe that all programs in an institute are not at the same level and hence I have a program-wise order of preference and not institute-wise.

So dear nephews/nieces, my order of preference of over 100 MBA programs is given in the table below. Please note that this should not be misunderstood as a ranking of MBA institutes/programs. The institutes/programs of different levels are placed in different clusters and within a cluster the ones on top are preferred over the lower ones. However, institutes within 2-3 places of each other are at par and you could choose any of them. For the institutes in Cluster 6 it might be useful to prefer an institute in your state/region as the overall cost would be lower and being from the region could be helpful during placements. For example, if you are from West Bengal then IISWBM is likely to be a better option than IBS Hyderabad.

Finally, do not rely only on this table, do check the other sources (especially current and past students) as well and take an informed decision looking at all factors that are important for you. This table has around 144 institutes/programs and there are many good institutes that I am not aware of. Hence for institutes not in this list (also for Cluster 6 institutes) a campus visit along with interaction with current students are recommended before the final decision.

It is worth noting that Institutes in the first few clusters have been ranked based on a few more parameters. While one really cannot differentiate between IIM A, B and C. IIM A tops the list based on reputation and C comes in second place since its fees is the lowest amongst the three. FMS is in the top 5 in the list because of the ROI. JBIMS is a little lower since there is reservation for candidates from Maharashtra. TISS is a little lower in the list but that’s mostly because it is a specialized program. A general management program is preferred (over specialized programs) as it allows you to choose your area of specialization after studying all subjects in the first year. However, if you are interested in that stream then it would rank higher for you. For e.g. if you are looking for a specialization in HR then XLRI, TISS and IIM K would be your preferences.

Top MBA Colleges: Cluster 1

Undoubtedly, like every year IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta and Bengaluru acquire the top three positions in best B- schools’ rankings respectively. With the best placement records, great reputation and endless opportunities these institutes stand as crème de la crème institutes. FMS Delhi, IIM Lucknow and XLRI are all equally good and one can choose either of these based on one’s specific requirements. If you are a candidate with over 3 years of work experience then you should be looking at ISB Hyderabad which offers a one-year course and accepts GMAT scores for admission. FMS, TISS and JBIMS stand out in terms of excellent Return on Investment (ROI) due to their very low fee and excellent placements.

1. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A)

Ahmedabad

PGP

2. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-C)

Kolkata

PGDM

3. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-B)

Bengaluru

PGP

4. Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) – Delhi University

New Delhi

MBA

5. Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI)

Jamshedpur

HRM

6. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-L)

Lucknow

PGPM

7. Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI)

Jamshedpur

BM

9. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS)

Mumbai

MMS

10. Indian School of Business (ISB)

Hyderabad

PGP

11. Management Development Institute (MDI)

Gurgaon

PGPM

12. SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR)

Mumbai

PGDM

13. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

Mumbai

MA HRM LR

Top MBA Colleges: Cluster 2

Many other IIMs and non-IIM colleges are part of cluster 2. This cluster shows that some non-IIM institutes make their mark as better B-schools than most of the IIM colleges in terms of growth, learning and placements. IIFT Kolkata is also listed in cluster 2 along with IIFT Delhi because that they have common placements and hence there is no disparity among the two institutes. IIML ABM is preferred over IIMA FABM because while IIML does not differentiate between ABM and PGP in terms of placement opportunities, IIMA has a separate placement process for PGP and FABM. Most interesting is National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) renowned for its operations courses making its way in cluster 2.

* same ranking for the two institutes because of the common placements and almost the same set of faculty teaching at both campuses.

12. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-K)

Kozhikode

PGP

13. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-I)

Indore

PGPM

14*. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)

New Delhi

MBA

15*. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)

Kolkata

MBA

16. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-L)

Lucknow

ABM

17. Indian Institute of Management Shillong

Shillong

PGPM

18. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay – SJSOM

Mumbai

M. MANAGEMENT

19. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A)

Ahmedabad

FABM

20. National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)

Mumbai

PGDIM

21. Indian Institute of Management Ranchi

Ranchi

PGDM

32. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi – DMS

New Delhi

MBA

Top MBA Colleges: Cluster 3

The new IIMs feature in this cluster.IIM Ranchi is seen to be gearing up as the HRM program by IIM Ranchi has been appreciated by the industry. B-schools such as MICA and IRMA that offer specialized programs also find their spot in this cluster. It must be understood that in their specialization, these two B-schools are the best in the country. For example, MICA is regarded as one of the top most B-schools in country for its Marketing and Advertising program. NMIMS should be looked up for finance while SIBM for marketing and HR. For candidates with over 2 years of work experience Great Lakes Chennai 1 year program (PGPM) can be considered over others as it has excellent industry recognition, but it is not approved by AICTE as PGDM hence those looking for further studies or Government/PSU jobs should also enroll for distance learning MBA from IGNOU or Annamalai University else they would be considered as “graduates” and not “post graduates” in India. In this cluster the IITs can be preferred over the others due to their low fee and good placements.

*same ranking for the three institutes as the placements are at par and all three have similar location benefits and are at parity with each other.

Top MBA Colleges: Cluster 4

The highlights of this cluster are B-schools like IMI Delhi, XIMB, KJ Somaiya, TAPMI which are ranked on the basis of quality opportunities and location. These colleges are equally good based on their past records.In terms of ROI the best institutes in this cluster are MFC, DU and MSc Finance JBIMS followed by NITIE and the IITs.

41Indian Institute of Management (IIM-V)

Vishakhapatnam

PGP

42.Indian Institute of Management (IIM-N)

Nagpur

PGP

43.Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Amritsar)

Amritsar

PGP

44. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur – DMS

Kanpur

MBA

45. Masters in International Business (MIB) Delhi School of Economics DU

Delhi

MIB

46. Master of Human Resource and Organisational Development (MHROD) Delhi School of Economics DU

Delhi

MHROD

47. Master of Finance & Control (MFC), DU

Delhi

MBA Fin

48. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies

Mumbai

MSc Finance

49. International Management Institute (IMI)

Delhi

PGDM

50.Indian Institute of Management (IIM-S)

Sirmaur

PGP

51.Indian Institute of Management (IIM-J)

Jammu

PGP

52. T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI)

Manipal

PGDM

53. National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)

Mumbai

PGDISEM

54. Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

Bengaluru

M.Mmgt (Tech Mgmt& Biz Analytics)

55. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee – DMS

Roorkee

MBA

56. NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies

Mumbai

MBA HR

57. Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB)

Bhubaneshwar

MBA HRM

58. Indian Institute of Management (IIM-L)

Lucknow (Noida)

SM

59. Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB)

Pune

MBA IB

60. K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (SIMSR)

Mumbai

PGDM, IB, FM

61. Goa Institute of Management (GIM)

Goa

PGDM

62. Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM)

Tiruchirapally

MBA

63. Master of Business Economics (MBE), Department of Business Economics, DU

Delhi

MBE

64. Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA)

Chennai

PGDM

65. FORE School of Management

New Delhi

PGDM, IB

Top MBA Colleges: Cluster 5

Apart from the ones mentioned above, even other colleges are not far behind. Many aspirants who are unable to crack CAT with good score can definitely think of taking up any of these colleges. The final choice is made based on preferences and the requirements of the candidate. Also, Bennett & Coleman Group’s Benenett University finds its way in this cluster right in the first year of its inception. This is majorly because for its first batch, Bennett had assured a package of at least 7.5 LPA, for every student, at any of the companies of the Times Group. This kind of a placement guarantee helps it in getting to Cluster 5

With CAT’17 and IIFT’17 paper barely a week apart, what can you do to ensure that you get the desired score in both? The secret is to analyze both the exams and figure out the similarities and have a stratagem in place for handling the differences.

Among the Indian MBA entrance exams, IIFT entrance exam is possibly the most complicated. While CAT, with a time limit of 1 hour for each section is a test of aptitude and speed, the IIFT paper in addition to aptitude, checks your temperament. It has multiple sections (and sometimes subsections also), no sectional time limits, differential marking for questions of different sections, negative marking for incorrect answers, insufficient time and at times does not clearly specify if it has sectional cut-offs. In other words, the IIFT paper checks out your ability to multi-task, to manage time, to take the right decisions (choose the easy questions) with insufficient information under a situation of constraints (insufficient time) with a penalty for incorrect decisions.

While CAT is structurally easier than IIFT in terms of the level of difficulty, IIFT is easier and apart from GK preparation you do not need to do anything extra. Your CAT preparation for QA, DI, LR, Verbal and RC is more than enough for IIFT and all you need to do is to work on your test-taking strategy by attempting old IIFT papers and IIFT Mocks, about 7-8 papers should be sufficient for this purpose.

With less than 4 weeks to IIFT D-day, let us understand the paper structure, its peculiarities and work out the best way of tackling the paper. We will take into account the IIFT papers of 2009 to 2016 for this purpose.

The IIFT Paper

Contrary to popular belief that the IIFT paper is unpredictable, the reality is that like any other paper it can be predicted. While most people prefer to look at the differences, I prefer to look at the commonalities or the constants of the paper to work out the strategies for cracking the paper. Hence let us first have a look at the constants in the IIFT paper structure:

1. Time limit:2 hours or 120 minutes.

2. Number of questions:The number of questions in this paper varies from 115 to 135. In 2011 there were 122 questions, 135 in 2012, 128 in 2013, 118 in 2014, 124 in 2015 and 123 in 2016

3. Total marks:All papers are of 100 marks.

Multiple sections:IIFT papers typically have 4-6 sections. DI could be an independent section or combined with QA or LR and similarly RC could be an independent section or combined with EU. IIFT 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 papers have all been 4 section papers

5. Areas tested:Irrespective of the number of sections or sub-sections IIFT papers test you on the following areas:

No sectional time limit:IIFT does not prescribe any sectional time limit and expects the students to not only allocate appropriate time to each section but also ensure that this time allocation is implemented. Not being able to do either of these would lead to not being able to achieve the sectional cut-off.

Differential Marking:Questions of different sections have different marks but in almost all papers GK & EU questions have the minimum marks and QA & DI questions have the maximum marks.

Negative marking:Negative marking is a standard feature in IIFT. Usually it is 1/3rd of the marks allocated to the question for every incorrect answer.

9. Good Attempt:Till 2010 a good attempt was around 50 marks, but in the last few years, with the reduction in the degree of difficulty, a good attempt is 60-65 marks.

Low Cut-off: The cut-off for general category candidates in IIFT 2012 paper was 50 marks which is the highest in the last few years. In 2013 the cut-off was around 47.5 marks, in 2014 the cut off was as low as 38.5 but in 2015 and 2016 it went up to 48.5.

The cutoff for reserved category candidates is typically lower by 5 marks for NC-OBC and 10 marks for SC/ST/PH candidates.

IIFT did not declare its cutoffs for 2013 (IIFT 2014-16) and the cutoffs mentioned in this post for the test conducted in 2013 are estimates and could be off by 0.5-1 mark in total and 0.2-0.5 marks in the sections.

11. Sectional cut-off:While in the past IIFT has been silent on this aspect but in the last few years it has declared sectional cut-offs for all sections. Even if the question paper does not specify this, it is safe to assume that there will be sectional cut-offs and attempt the paper accordingly.

12. Wrong questions:Every IIFT paper has 5-6 incorrect questions or questions in which none of the choices are correct. Possibly trying to see how you handle chaos :-).

With the features of IIFT stated, my strategy for IIFT paper would be:

Strategy Tip 1:The Marks per minute funda: Given that the mark per question in the IIFT paper is different for different testing areas, it is important for us to attempt questions in a manner such that the score is maximized. EU and GK usually have the lowest marks per question but they also take the least amount of time. Similarly, QA and DI typically have the highest marks per question but they take more time to solve. In other words, “marks per minute” is more important than “marks per question” and your target should be to attempt questions worth 60-65 marks in 120 minutes.

Strategy Tip 2:The Target Attempt Mystery: IIFT is usually silent on the aspect of sectional cutoffs but we cannot assume that it is not there. In 2012, for the first time, IIFT declared its sectional cut-offs. Given that the highest total score required to clear IIFT in the last few years is 50 marks (45 for NCOBC and 40 for SC/ST/PH) in IIFT 2012 and the sectional cutoffs are very low, your target attempt could be:
1. Around 35-40% of the total marks in the section and
2. 60-65 marks in aggregate.

Strategy Tip 3: Finding the Perfect Match: The IIFT paper has around 15 “match the following” questions in GK, EU and RC. These have to be definitely attempted since almost all of them can be solved, by identifying 1 or 2 matches out of 4, by eliminating the choices.

Strategy Tip 4: The South-Indian Thali: With 2-3 questions of almost all question types the EU, LR and GA sections of the IIFT resemble a “South Indian Thali” and instead of trying to attempt all question types you should focus only on the ones that you are comfortable with. Remember you can afford to leave about 40% of the paper.

Now on the basis of the past few papers of IIFT, let us go deeper into all the areas that are tested to work out a plan for preparation and also the strategy to do well in the test.

English Usage (EU): The 20-25 questions in this section are primarily from vocabulary, sentence completion and sentence correction with a couple of questions from para-jumbles (short sentences) and spellings. Vocabulary is the least time-consuming sub-section in the test but many students are likely to find the words difficult. Grammar or sentence correction is easier than that in CAT and sentence completion questions (word, sentences and phrases) are also do-able.

A good starting point for preparation is to know the meaning of every word that has appeared in the question and the choices of the last 5 years IIFT papers. Vocabulary questions that have appeared in past XAT and FMS papers are also useful for IIFT. The vocabulary section in the Test Gym will be of help in this regard.

Strategy Tip 5: When in doubt – leave. Give this section (EU) about 10-12 minutes for 20 questions and attempt only those questions that you are sure of, follow the principle of “leaving, when in doubt”.

Reading Comprehension (RC): In the last few years RC, has contributed 15-16 questions in 4 lengthy passages. While the length of the passages has come down over the years but with about 1000-1200 words they are lengthier than the ones in all other MBA entrances. The passages are mostly factual and not difficult to understand or answer. In addition to the RC passages of past IIFT papers, RC passages of CAT 1990-99 can also be practiced since most of these too are lengthy and factual.

Strategy Tip 6A: From Questions to Passage:Given that the passages are lengthy and the questions are mostly factual it is advisable to attempt only the factual questions from all passages. Thus, instead of reading the passage, identify the factual questions in each passage and then glance through the passage to find their answer.

Alternately follow tip 6B.

Strategy Tip 6B: The 7-8 min rule If you are keen to read the passages and then attempt the questions, then glance through the passages and attempt any two, @ 7-8 minutes per passage, which you are comfortable with based on the subject of the passage. Do not target all RC passages since this section (along with DI) gives the minimum marks per minute.

EU and RC, Marks per Question: Since 2012, EU and RC have been combined in a single section and it will be prudent to assume that the same will continue this year also. The marks per question have however varied across years.

IIFT 2012 and 2013 papers had 20 questions of EU and 16 questions of RC with 0.75 marks per question for a total of 27 marks. The cut off for this section was only 7 and 5.75 marks in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

IIFT 2014 paper had 20 questions of EU and 17 questions of RC at 0.75 and 1 mark per question respectively for a total of 32 marks with a cutoff of 6.5 marks. In IIFT 2015 and 2016 paper, while the marks per question and the number of EU questions remained the same, the number of RC questions reduced to 16 and hence the total marks in the section was 31.

The sectional cutoff for this section has varied from 5.75 marks to 9.67 marks in line with the level of difficulty/length of the RC section.

Quantitative Aptitude: The 20-25 QA questions in IIFT are of the low level of difficulty. Arithmetic and Algebra is the mainstay of IIFT papers in QA and have questions primarily from Ratios, TSD, T&W and Percentages, Simple equations, Sequences & Series and Inequalities with a couple of questions each from Geometry, Mensuration and P&C and Probability. Till 2010, IIFT papers had questions from Functions, Trigonometry (mostly height and distance), Set Theory and Binomial Theorem also but since these have not appeared for the last 5 years those of you who are not comfortable with these topics can afford to leave them.

QA, Marks per question: While the number of questions has varied in QA, it has always been 1 mark per question in QA. The number of QA questions in IIFT 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 papers were 25, 25, 20, 22 and 20 questions respectively. About 12-15 questions could be comfortably attempted in the paper and the cutoff has been in the range of 4.34 to 6.34 marks.

Strategy Tip 7:Find the Sitters Many IIFT QA questions are lengthy to read but easy to solve and a few short questions are sprinkled across the paper. Also, there are 4-5 questions that are not worth attempting. This section should be attempted in 2 Rounds – R1 for the short and easy questions and R2 for the lengthy to read questions.

Data Interpretation: DI in IIFT typically contributes about 15-20 questions in 3-4 sets. In terms of calculation intensity these are a couple of notches higher than CAT because of very close choices and complicated data sets. While most of the data sets are tables and graphs, case lets have also appeared in the past. Data Sufficiency questions have not appeared in IIFT for the last 5 years and hence can be ignored. In the last few years DI has not come as a separate section, in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 DI and LR were combined in a single section while in 2014 it was QA and DI.

DI, Marks per question: These questions too usually have 1 mark per question. In IIFT 2012 and 2013 DI was easier than its earlier editions due to lesser calculation intensity. Both papers had 4 data sets with a total of 19 questions and one could attempt about 10 questions, however, in 2014 (15 questions) and 2015 (18 questions) DI went back to its complicated data sets and/or high on calculation avatar and one could attempt only about 5-6 questions. 2016 paper had 4 DI sets (20 questions) with 10 doable questions.

Strategy Tip 8: The DI and RC connection Apply the RC strategy in DI, attempt only two DI sets – the easiest and least time-consuming sets in about 15 minutes and ignore the rest, alternately attempt only 2-3 easy questions from each data set. But for 2016, the strategy should have been different as the DI sets very easy last year and students should have attempted these.

Logical Reasoning: The South Indian thali will be most visible in this section. The 20 questions in IIFT test will give you a flavour of almost all kind of reasoning questions that appear in any kind of aptitude test. You can expect 2-3 questions each of arrangement, eligibility criteria, syllogism, coding-decoding, input-output, course of action, mathematical operators and alphabet & number series. Hence, it is advisable that all these be practiced from your study material and past IIFT papers.
Questions of arrangement, eligibility criteria and mathematical operators are easier to solve if you work systematically and also take less time, attempt them first and for the rest go to your comfort level.

LR, Marks per question: While the number of questions has remained constant at 20 in the last three IIFT papers, the marks per question in 2012 and 2013 was 0.75. In 2014 it increased to 1 mark per question but went back to 0.75 marks per question in 2015. 2016 paper had 22 questions and 0.75 marks per question. An attempt of around 15 questions is possible in most of the IIFT papers. This section typically has the highest cut-off among all sections but here too a score of around 10 marks for DI+LR or 6-7 marks for LR alone would be sufficient to clear the cut-off.

Strategy Tip 9:Maximize in LR! This is the section to maximize your scores since the level of difficulty is low-medium and reasoning questions usually have the high marks per question. Questions can be solved in 1-1.5 minutes each. Plan to attempt all questions in this section. Again, in 2016 there was a deviation from this pattern as the LR section was difficult and students should have ideally left it alone and focused on DI and RC which was easier.

General Knowledge: This is the area that worries most of the students. GK in IIFT is possibly the most unpredictable among all MBA entrances. It has questions from country-capital-currency, authors-books, business, advertising, films, politics, geography, history etc. In short, anything under the sun can be asked. The saving grace is that the regular newspaper readers are usually able to do well in this section.

For preparation, go through the IIFT GK Compendium and Question Bank. Also, do go through the static questions of last 6 years IIFT papers. The GK app (android) by CL is already out and should be of help in preparing for this section. This GK preparation will also be useful for XAT and SNAP.

IIFT 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 had 28, 28, 26, 28 and 25 questions (of 0.5 marks each) respectively and 6 net-correct answers were sufficient to clear the section since the highest cut-offs for this section in the last 4 years has been 2.49 marks.

Strategy Tip 10:The Last Word- Plan for about 20 seconds per question in GK, leave the question if you are not sure of the answer. An attempt of around 7-8 questions is good for this section. Do attempt the “match the following” question types and for the others, the right strategy is “when in doubt – leave”.

The speed breakers in this paper are typically DI and RC. Fortunately, these two sections are combined with EU and LR/QA respectively. Hence look at attempting the bare minimum in DI & RC and maximizing in the other sections. Between DI and RC, it will be preferable to go for RC as as it can be attempted by solving the factual questions after skimming the passage. Based on the past papers, DI should be your last preference. But, for 2016 these two sections turned out to be the saviors. Students are thus advised to examine the level of difficulty of each section before attempting it.

IIFT Cutoffs – Sectional and Overall:

IIFT 2012

IIFT 2013

IIFT 2014

IIFT 2015

IIFT 2016

EU-RC: 7 marks out of 27

EU-RC: 5.75 marks out of 27

EU-RC: 6.5 marks out of 32

EU-RC: 8.75 marks out of 31

EU-RC: 9.67 marks out of 31

QA: 6 marks out of 25

QA: 6.34 marks out of 25

QADI: 4.67 marks out of 35

QA: 4.34 marks out of 22

QA: 4.01 marks out of 20

DI-LR: 8.917 out of 34

DI-LR: 9.75 marks out of 34

LR: 4.34 marks out of 20

DI-LR: 8.68 marks out of 33

DI-LR: 8 marks out of 36.5

GA: 1.67 marks out of 14

GA: 1.80 marks out of 14

GA: 2.49 marks out of 13

GA: 0.82 marks out of 14

GA: 1.99 marks out of 12.5

Overall:

General: 50

NC-OBC: 45

SC/ST/PH: 40

Overall:

General: 47.5

NC-OBC: 42.5

SC/ST/PH: 37.5

Overall:

General: 38.5

NC-OBC: 33.5

SC/ST/PH: 28.5

Overall:

General: 48.5

NC-OBC: 43.5

SC/ST/PH: 38.5

Overall:

General: 48.5

NC-OBC: 43.5

SC: 38.5 PH

ST: 27.17

Practicing past IIFT papers will help you in CAT and XAT. If you can handle the complexity of IIFT then managing the 3 sections of XAT will not be difficult. Also, IIFT will push you to increase your speed and this could help increase your attempts in CAT. Do attempt at least one IIFT Mock or old IIFT every week and 2-3 such papers after 26th November. These papers are available in CL’s online portal– SIS For a detailed analysis of past year IIFT papers please refer to the analysis page of IIFT exam, here.

The above emotion is something which a student, who is serious about CAT, would be feeling overwhelmed about! However, I would like you to believe that

->There are FORTY days for CAT.

Once you establish that you are going to work towards performing well in the CAT exam, and not worry about the number of days that exist, it would be much easier to plan!

There are also a lot of questions that must be going through your mind, which I plan to answer before we begin the plan for the next 40 days!

Should I only attempt mock CATs, now that we have just 40 days left?

The objective of writing a mock should be to get a complete rhythm of writing the CAT paper. The analysis of the mock exam should indicate how well you have executed the plan that you had set out for that particular exam.

In addition, mocks should be used to check out your weaknesses (and strengths) and should be used as a revision base too!

Should I leave some of the topics that I am weak in?

For the next 15 to 20 days, you can still concentrate on some of the weaknesses you have (in topics and areas). But, once we get to November, it is advisable that you stick to your strengths!

My scores in two sections are good, but I am not scoring well in the other!

This is very typical conundrum for many students. The causes can be many. However, if the issue is with just one section, then one has to put in twice the preparation time for that section as compared to the other two.

However, if there is no discernible pattern as to which section is going wrong, the analysis of your moods during the writing of the exam and trying to adjust them through a clinical approach in attempting the sections would be the need of the hour.

My scores are very erratic; I am losing confidence with each passing day! What do I do?

It is very natural that the scores will be a bit erratic. Understanding this itself will give you a good boost. Remember that if you have scored well in any section (mock), then it means your basic potential clearly exists. How you harness this ability without succumbing to emotions is the only challenge that you have. So do not worry about the erratic scores and concentrate on the process of writing the exam.

There are too many concerns the students are saddled with. But, the answer to almost all questions is the same:

Concentrate on what can be done rather than on what cannot be!

I reproduce below an excerpt of the article that I had written on ‘Need for Strategy’ for CAT. Following which, we discuss the best way to utilize the next 40 days!

Acing the CAT requires two parallel, yet distinctive approaches- One aimed at ensuring the utilization of 3 hours fully in the exam, and the other aimed at ensuring the maximum returns for the hours invested prior to the exam (read preparation).

Strategy for CAT 2017

No matter how good one may be at solving problems of QA and/or DILR, or at English usage, this exam requires a special approach. It is much like adapting oneself to various formats of a cricket game (Test, ODI, T20), even though one may be excellent at batting or bowling!

The basic purpose of a strategy is to ensure that

You read all questions in a section/set

You identify and solve the easy and medium level difficulty questions

You identify and avoid difficulty and/or lengthy questions

You have a maximum stop time for every question/every set

You maximize attempts

You throw emotion out of the window while attempting the exam

You be systematic and clinical in your approach!

To achieve the above, each student may have to hit upon a different idea/plan/strategy for attempting the exam.

FINAL STRATEGY FOR THE EXAM

Decide on the time limit you would set for each topic/sub-topic within each section

Stick to the game plan on the D-Day

Possible break-up of time-limits

QA – Attempt in two rounds (35 min and 25 min)

Or 6 questions in 10 min

Or 8/9 questions in 15 min

DI – 30 min (7.5 min for each set)

– Or In each 15 minutes slot, check two sets and choose ONE!

LR – 30 min (7.5 min for each set)

– Or In each 15 minutes slot, check two sets and choose ONE!

RC – 45 min (8/9 min for each passage)

VA – 12-15 min (For all non-RC questions)

In every section, sticking to the time limits is sacrosanct.

Within each set of DI/LR or RC – doing all questions is NOT the objective. Reading and trying to attempt, is!

In DI/LR section, it is important that you utilize the first few minutes in deciding which sets to attempt!

Preparation for the NEXT 40 days!

This is the time to forget about all the books and concentrate ONLY on Mock CATs and original CAT papers.

If required, one may attempt some sectional tests. However, there is really no point in going back to the basics often, and/or solving tons of questions from each chapter/area.

In this last leg of preparation, writing mocks to cement one’s strategy becomes imperative. At the same time, writing ONLY Mocks and doing nothing to improve one’s capability of solving more questions/different types of questions would be counter-productive. Writing only Mocks will set in fatigue in a few days and will affect the performance in the actual exam.

Plan for Mocks

Take 5 to 8 tests in the remaining 40 days. One mock exam a week, is also more than sufficient. However, your friends and seniors will tell you that you need to write more mocks. No harm in that except there is only so much time to do anything. Writing mocks alone won’t improve your marks. Hence, use the time judiciously. Take One Mock in 4 to 7 days (as per your convenience) and then utilize the intervening days, i.e. the days between the mocks, for improving the marks in each of the areas.

Here is what I recommend for each of the sections:

Quantitative Ability

Important Topics

Arithmetic – 9 to 10 questions

QE/Polynomials/Inequalities/Logs- 8 to 10 questions

Numbers – 7 to 8 questions

Geometry/CG/Mensuration – 5 to 6 questions

Pick 4 subtopics for every 4/5 days of work (between mocks)

For these subtopics – solve about 10 questions in each (From SmartCATs you have already done)

Data Interpretation

Divide DI into the seven types of questions

For each of the 4/5 days in between mocks, solve about 10 sets in each such type of questions

Tables & its variants

Bar Chart

Line Graphs

Pie Charts

Tournament & Games

Max/Minima & Venn Diagram

Miscellaneous – Spider, Triangle, Scatter Diagram etc.

Logical Reasoning/Logical Ability

Divided LR into the following

Arrangements (Linear and Circular)

Selection

Networks & Routes

Order Sequencing & Ranking

Binary Logic

Cubes & Venn Diagrams

Other puzzles

Solve 3 sets every day.

At the end of 40 days you should have solved close to 120 sets of LR

Reading Comprehension

Solve 3 RCs a day for the next 40 days.

Analyze every answer – wrong ones as well as the ones you get right!

For every wrong answer – Analyze why the same cannot be the answer

You will develop the method of thinking which works to ace CAT

Verbal Ability

Areas to work on

Grammar – daily 10 questions

Try understanding the entire gamut of questions that can appear

Subject-Verb; Parallelism; Phrasal Verbs; etc.

Para Jumbles: Every 3 days, solve around 15 questions

Critical Reasoning: Every 3 days, solve around 15 questions.

Para Completion/Summary/Others – 10 questions

Words – From every Smart CAT, make sure that you know as many as words as possible along with its usage.

Final Word

40 days can make a huge difference to your score

You can add a minimum of 60 marks to your current score.

That could mean a jump of about 20 to 30 percentile in final analysis.

If you are getting 90 percentile now, you can hope to touch 99 percentile with this approach OR from 80 to 97 OR from 70 to 95!!

]]>https://www.gpkafunda.com/40-days-cat-2017/feed/0IIFT done – What Next for CAT 2016?https://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-done-next-cat/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-done-next-cat/#commentsMon, 28 Nov 2016 11:34:03 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=4663With IIFT out of the way most of you would have immediately shifted your focus to CAT 2016. However, before you get down to practicing section tests from Test Gym and taking Mock CATs it will be useful to relive your IIFT experience and analyze why you did/did not do well in IIFT and what learning from this paper can you take forward to CAT. Let us first look at the IIFT paper and then discuss what you should do in the 6 days leading up to CAT 2016.

Let me share with you how I would have attempted the IIFT 2017-19 paper:

Step 1: Scan the paper in the first 3-4 minutes

You would have observed the following:

LR: 22 questions, 5 data sets (including star figure) very few single questions. Normal time should be fine but could lead to lower attempts as it has sets. Give 30 minutes for this section.

DI: 20 questions, easy to understand data sets and short questions. Looks easier than older IIFT papers. Should spend at least 10 minutes as DI appears do-able, can look at an extra 5 minutes if LR is time consuming.

RC: 4 passages, length of passages has come down and hence can give 5 minutes extra and attempt an extra passage. Target all passages in 20 minutes.

EU: Almost all vocabulary based but could take a higher amount of time because the structure of the vocab questions eg. crossword. 15 minutes should be fine.

EU: as per plan, would not have attempted 3-4 questions eg. Spelling, origin of the word etc.

RC: as per plan, would have attempted all passages. May have left 2-3 questions if finding the answer was difficult.

LR: would have started with the single questions (Venn diagram, number series etc), then to “Star Figure” and then picked up the data sets. While attempting the sets I would have realized that the section is a bit difficult and hence with easier DI might be worth while to look at DI (due to easy to understand data and short questions) and then come back to LR.

DI: would have spent an extra 5 minutes and attempted about 10-12 questions. From each data set would have picked up low calculation questions and left the high calculation ones. Would have left the DI with 30 minutes to go.

QA: Attempt the short and easy to solve questions as per the plan.

Questions for you:

Q1. Did you scan the paper?

If yes, were you able to pick out that this paper has easier DI and RC, time consuming LR and EU?

If no, then see how you could have identified this.

You will need to do the same in CAT – decide on the relative time between EU & RC and LR & DI.

Q2: While attempting the LR section did you get a feeling that it is difficult?

If no, why could you not identify that LR appears to be difficult?

If yes then after attempting the easier sets did you move on to DI before completing the LR section?

If you did move on, you are fine.

If you continued with LR despite identifying it as difficult, why?

You will need to do this in DILR section of CAT.

Q3: Did you waste your time in any section/question?

In GK and Vocab questions, of EU, did you brood over questions despite not knowing the answer or the meaning of the word?

In LR and DI, were you able to identify:

The DI and LR sets to be attempted?

Questions from DI sets that should/should not be attempted.

In QA were you able to pick up the easy and less time consuming questions?

If no, why not?

Did you waste your time in any difficult/time consuming question?

This will tell you how good your question selection is and will be needed in all sections in CAT.

The above, to my mind should be done immediately so that you are able to fine-tune your test taking. This might mean that you will have to spend a couple of hours on the IIFT paper but it will significantly improve your performance in CAT. Remember that in the 6 days to CAT 2017 you cannot improve your knowledge base but you can take your test taking ability up a couple of levels which can significantly improve your scores.

Once you have taken stock of the above, the question that needs to be answered is what to do over the next 6 days leading up to CAT. The key is to focus on strengths and positives while not overworking yourself. Ensure you write 2-3 mocks and keep yourself away from any studies in the 36 odd hours leading to CAT. Do go through the new pattern mocks that are a part of each CL Test series product now and join my ‘Last minute tips to Crack CAT 2016’ webinar on 30th Nov. Follow the schedule “6 din CAT in” schedule to make the most of the upcoming six days.

All the best

GP

]]>https://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-done-next-cat/feed/25The Mystery of R1, R2, R3 Solved: Presenting the ‘Strength Finder’https://www.gpkafunda.com/r1-r2-r3-strength-finder/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/r1-r2-r3-strength-finder/#commentsFri, 21 Oct 2016 06:30:29 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=1845Why is it that most of us are unable to identify R1, R2, and R3 questions while taking Mock CATs and usually end up attempting the difficult questions over the easier ones? The reason is that most of us are confused about our strengths and weaknesses. We work at the macro level i.e. the topic level (Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry etc.) but our attempts in CAThave to be at the question type level, and many of us are unable to reconcile the two levels.

Is it something new to us? Of course not! We have done this regularly for our school and college exams. For the school/college exams, we would focus not on the chapter (or the topic) but, within each chapter, on the sub-topics or question types that we could handle. We would first attempt the questions that we were sure of answering correctly (R1) and then move on to questions that we were reasonably sure of answering, at least partly (R2). The questions that we were not sure of were not even touched. CAT and all other MBA entrance exams are no different and this tried and tested method of test-taking is what you need to implement to get a good score in MBA entrances.

The first step is to understand your comfort level within different question types (not topics or sub-topics) that appear in CAT and other MBA entrance. Hopefully, the Mock CATs that you have taken so far have given you an idea about your strong and not so strong question types. If not then please analyze your last 2-3 Mocks as suggested in the post ‘Are you choosing the right questions in your Mock CATs?’

Now that you have some understanding of your strong and not so strong question types, fill up the Strength Finder which lists down the question types that have appeared in CAT off late. The strength finder comes with the CAT Score Booster and can be found in your SIS if you have access to the CAT Score Booster. There are two blank columns corresponding to every question type. Based on your comfort level, decide which of the two columns each question type belongs to. What goes into which column is defined below:

Column II should contain all those question types that you are able to attempt correctly most of the time or for which you mark the correct answer in at least 75% of the questions. These are your strengths.

Column I should contain all the topics and question types in which your accuracy is extremely poor or those topics which you are not able to comprehend. These are your weaknesses. These are the topics for which you need serious improvement.

The funda is simple, either you are good at a particular topic or you need improvement in it. There is no middle ground. Once you are aware of the topics that belong to these two categories for you, you need to put in an effort to bring them from column II to column I. I.

How to implement in CAT?

This categorization of QA questions into Column I & II helps us in identifying which questions should be attempted in each of the three rounds.

Column II questions that can be solved in about 100 seconds should be attempted in R1.

Column II questions that are not solved/attempted in R1 or take more than 100 seconds should be attempted in R2.

Column I questions should be attempted in R2 or R3 if time permits.

This will also ensure that you do not waste time on risky shots and double negatives.

How much time should be spent in each round?

This is a function of how comfortable you are with the section and how many questions you can attempt comfortably. Let me give you 3 different scenarios:

If your target attempt in QADI is 30+ questions:

R1 could be 30 minutes for 12-14 attempts consisting of questions that can be solved in less than 2 minutes. R2 could be 20 minutes for another 10-12 attempts and R3 could be the balance 10 minutes for around 8-10 questions.

You could also compress this in two Rounds of 40 and 20 minutes with 15-16 attempts in each round (R1 and R2).

If your target attempt in QADI is around 25 questions:

R1 could be 40 minutes for 12-14 questions, consisting of questions that can be solved in less than 3 minutes. R2 could be 15 minutes for another 8-12 questions and R3 could be the balance 5 minutes for 2-3 questions.

You could also compress this in two Rounds (R1 and R2 only) of 45 and 15 minutes with 12-13 attempts in each round.

If your target attempt in QADI is 20-22 questions:

Do not go for three Rounds, two are sufficient. You could target 10-11 questions in 40 minutes of R1 and 20 minutes of R2.

Alternately you could consider attempting the section in one round (only R1) of 60 minutes and attempt only those QA questions that are in Column II and can be solved by you in less than 4 minutes.

Needless to say, all this is only indicative and you will need to create your own structure based on your strengths and weaknesses. Please work out a strategy that works for you based on the Mock CATs taken so far and test it out in a couple of mock CATs before freezing it.

Instructions for using Strength Finder:

CL students can access ‘Strength Finder’ in the CAT Score Booster from the homepage of their SIS. Other students can access it by registering here.

All the best!

]]>https://www.gpkafunda.com/r1-r2-r3-strength-finder/feed/91IIFT 2016-18 Analysis: My takehttps://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-2016-18-analysis-my-take/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-2016-18-analysis-my-take/#commentsTue, 24 Nov 2015 13:22:24 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=3688IIFT 2016-18 was along the expected lines, it appears that the paper setters went through my blogpost GP’s 10 foolproof fundas to Crack IIFT and implemented everything that was mentioned. So all the key ingredients of IIFT papers like “match the following” questions, the South Indian Thali, lengthy but factual RCs, difficult DI sets and, most importantly, incorrect questions (13 incorrect or ambiguous questions) were all available in the paper.

If we have to compare IIFT 2016-18 analysis to old IIFT test papers, then the closest will be IIFT 2014-16. Not only do these two papers have the same structure (combined EU+RC and DI+LR) and marking scheme but also four out of six sub-sections of these two papers are similar in terms of the degree of difficulty, the question types and also the possible attempts. The two sub-sections that have deviated from the 2014-16 paper are GK and DI which are similar in terms of structure but have a higher level of difficulty.

The GK section was along the expected lines and with questions from all topics. Unlike IIFT 2014-16 paper which was easy and candidates with decent GK could have comfortably attempted about 15 questions, this year the level of difficulty went up and candidates with decent GK would have attempted only around 10 questions in about 8 minutes. What would have given relief to the candidates were the 6 match the following questions as most of them could have been solved with a single match.

In IIFT 2014-16 the sectional cutoff for GK was 1.8 marks and with a higher level of difficulty I expect the cutoff to be in the region of 1.5-1.8 marks or 4 net correct answers were sufficient to clear this section. CL students who went through the GK section of Mock IIFTs and the GK compendium would have found at least 6 questions from there which was sufficient to clear the sectional cutoff.

English Usage and Reading Comprehension

EU 20 questions @ 0.75 marks per question = 15 marks

RC 16 questions @ 1 mark per question = 16 marks

English Usage: As usual vocabulary based questions comprised half the questions in this section. A couple of questions each of Parajumbles, Idioms, Phrasal verbs and figure of speech completed this section and one could have comfortably attempted 16-17 questions in about 15 minutes. A few questions had close choices and would have led to 3-4 errors but a score of around 10 marks was easily achievable.

Reading Comprehension: The four long RC passages with a majority of questions being factual in nature made this a regular IIFT RC section. Attempting 3 RC passages in about 20 minutes was possible. Some students even came back to do an extra passage after realising that DI was extremely difficult and attempted almost all 16 questions of RC.

While candidates strong in EURC would be scoring 18-20 marks and a score of over 15 marks was not difficult I expect the EURC cutoff to be around 6.50 marks.

Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation

LR 20 questions @ 0.75 marks per question = 15 marks

DI 18 questions @ 1 mark per question = 18 marks

Logical Reasoning: Students would have breezed through this section, except for a data set (exporters – USA, UAE, UK) in which 2 questions are incorrect and hence would have led to time wastage, all other data sets and single questions were easily do-able and the section could have been easily completed in a 25-30 minutes leading to a net score of 11-12 marks.

Data Interpretation: The low level of difficulty of LR was compensated by a very high level of difficulty of DI. The DI section in this paper reminded me of the old IIFT papers in which an attempt of a 3-4 questions in about 15 minutes was an achievement. It would have been painful for most candidates to move from set to set and hardly find a DI set or question worth attempting. Added to this is the fact that two of the four data sets had typographical errors and questions could not have been solved without making assumptions.

Most of the candidates would have settled for the data set with a “multiple bar chart on scores on Competitiveness Factors” leading to an output of 3-4 attempts in 10-15 minutes.

A cumulative score of around 15 in LRDI was possible but the sectional cutoff would be around 8.5 marks.

Quantitative Aptitude

QA 22 questions @ 1 mark per question = 22 marks

This section too was along the expected lines, simple questions made to look difficult by converting 2 line questions to 8 line ones. Most of the arithmetic questions were straight forward and the algebra questions could be easily solved by substitution of choices. IIFT did not disappoint us wrt incorrect questions, there are 3 questions that are either incorrect or ambiguous or in which none of the choice is correct.

About 15-17 questions in 35 minutes was possible in QA and the cutoff should be in the region of 6.5 marks.

The Final Word

The fact that IIFT has a complex structure but simple questions means that it is a test of temperament and not knowledge. Hence the candidates who did not get flustered with the difficult DI and were able to reallocate their DI time to RC would have done well and should be expecting IIFT interview call. General Category candidates with an overall score of around 45 with the sectional scores in excess of the cutoff should be short listed by IIFT for the next stage. The overall cutoff for NCOBC candidates is expected to be around 40 and that for SC, ST, PH candidates around 35.

IIFT test results are typically declared by end December and the interviews are conducted one month later, hence the candidates expecting IIFT calls should start their PDP sessions immediately after CAT, waiting for results or XAT will not allow you sufficient preparation time.

All the best,

GP

]]>https://www.gpkafunda.com/iift-2016-18-analysis-my-take/feed/188Optimizing the IIFT Scorehttps://www.gpkafunda.com/optimizing-the-iift-score/
https://www.gpkafunda.com/optimizing-the-iift-score/#commentsTue, 03 Nov 2015 10:13:09 +0000https://www.gpkafunda.com/?p=3635IIFT is an important exam which is scheduled to take place on 22nd November ‘15. If you have prepared well for the CAT then IIFT exam requires a slight tweak in your approach and strategy.
Here, I am going to discuss how I would spend 120 minutes inside the examination hall. But before doing that, let me tell you about my strengths and weaknesses (pertaining to the IIFT exam) as a student, so that you can understand the logic behind my course of action.

• I am not strong at any particular section but neither am I weak at any. I prefer going for Verbal, Logical Reasoning, DI, RC, Maths & GK in that order.
• IIFT being a speed oriented test, my order of attempt would differ from my preference order. The usual attempt vs. accuracy trade-off has to be kept in mind. I always pick attempt over accuracy.
• Although it is unclear if IIFT will have sectional cut off (which it had in last year), I will attempt each section with equally intensity so that I clear the sectional cutoffs. Fortunately or unfortunately, lack of super competence in any section permits me to do that.
• I go with the mindset that if I am finding a test/section difficult then at least 99% of the crowd would be finding it difficult.

Now, I would talk about each section in the order I would attempt them in the paper.

1st Section to Attempt– GK: The cut-off for this section is usually low, as low as 1.5-2 marks. The good part is that there are match the following questions in GK, so even if I can find two correct matches just by working through options, even then I can get to the right answers. I aim to attempt 10 -12 questions in 6- 8 minutes with an accuracy of around 60%. To prepare for GK, I suggest going through the happenings of the past 3 months.

2nd Section to Attempt– Verbal: Like it or not, IIFT is a speed test and those who are good in English will always do well in a speed test. The verbal section has good mix of vocab, PJ, grammar & other regulars. I go for a kill in this section attempting all the questions in 15 minutes. The aim is to achieve 75% accuracy.

3rd Section to Attempt – LR: This section is lengthy and has a mix of easy and difficult questions. If there are any questions on Syllogisms and Logical Deductions I attempt them first. My idea in this section would be to attempt 3 caselets. I attempt series completion & coding decoding question only if I am left with sufficient time. I devote 25 minutes to this section and my aim is to achieve 90% accuracy.

4th Section to Attempt- RC: Unlike CAT RCs, IIFT RCs do not require to read each and every word. IIFT RC’s are lengthy and tiring but the questions are direct. There are few questions which are based on the factual data (which can be easily traced in the passage) and few questions with match the following construct. My aim is to attempt all such questions, without reading any RC completely. I consciously read quickly and my aim is to attempt at least 8-10 questions across all the RCs in 20 minutes.

5th Section to Attempt –DI: IIFT DI is usually calculation intensive. Rather than focusing on 1-2 caselets, I scan all the caselets and attempt those questions which are less time consuming. My aim is to attempt 8-10 questions in this section in 25 minutes.

6th Section to Attempt – Quant: IIFT Quant questions are usually 4-5 liners and I avoid such questions. I read those few two liner questions in round 1. In the remaining time, I first pick questions from Arithmetic and then from the other topics. I aim to attempt 7-8 questions in this section in 25 minutes with 100% accuracy.

Few Suggestions:
• In a speed test you need to fix the order of attempts and time allotted to each section. You should follow the time allotment rigidly.
• For attempts, you can only intend to reach a particular number, if you are unable to reach that number of attempts in a particular section in the time you have allotted to that section then do not panic, move to next section. Remember, that the section could be difficult than expected.